Building energy efficiency: An overview of the Brazilian residential labeling scheme

One of the alternatives to reduce building energy consumption recognized and used internationally is establishing standards for the evaluation and classification of buildings in terms of energy performance. In developed countries, the introduction of energy efficiency codes for residential and non-residential buildings started around the time of the first oil crisis in the mid-70s. Ten years later, Brazil has started implemented measures aimed at the conservation and rational use of energy. Initiatives in this regard began with the implementation of the Brazilian Labeling Program, where consumers are provided with information on the energy efficiency of appliances. However, the first energy efficiency law stimulated the most notable improvement in energy efficiency in 2001 after national energy crisis. As a result, the Regulation for Energy Efficiency Labeling of Commercial, Service and Public Buildings (RTQ-C) was released in February 2009 and the Regulation for Energy Efficiency Labeling of Residential Buildings (RTQ-R) was released in November 2010. Nowadays, the labeling of residential, commercial and service buildings is voluntary and the labeling of federal public buildings is mandatory since 2014. This paper presents a review of the building energy efficiency codes and labeling schemes all over the world, an overview of the Brazilian regulations on energy efficiency and discusses the labeling scheme for residential buildings adopted in Brazil. The process of its implementation, strengths and weaknesses in the present labeling scheme and the similarities and differences in relation to international experiences are described. The results obtained to date indicate that a revision is required in order to achieve a more flexible and economically viable process that will enable the program to be established as compulsory.